New Beginnings
by FlashB03
Summary: AU: Dick Grayson's family dies in a freak circus accident. Fortunately, Mr. Allen was there to help him.
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing

It happened so fast. The look of terror in his father's eyes, the gasping sound that the crowd made. The sickening crack when they hit the floor. He was the lone surviving Grayson by the time he even realized what had happened.

"Mom! Dad!" He remembered everything after that painfully clear, yet blurry, like a nightmare you couldn't wake up from. One thing he did remember was that they wouldn't let him get near his parents. He couldn't quite remember who "they" were, but he remembered hating them with his whole body.

"Shhhh, you're going to be okay. Everything will be okay". A tall blonde man had embraced him. Dick thought it was kind of strange that he didn't notice the man come up to him. Nearby he noticed a red haired child who couldn't have been more than three years older than Dick. His face was painted with a look of shock and terror.

Dick slowly started to relax. No, relax wasn't a good word. It was more like he stopped crying quite so loud.

The man told him that his name was Barry. He introduced the red haired boy as his nephew, Wally. Wally didn't talk much. Dick didn't mind. Talking was the last thing he was interested in right now.

Some adults took him away. They put him in a home. At least, they called it a home. It didn't feel like one. The other kids called him a circus freak, and a silent freak, and just plain freak. He didn't care. He did care when the adults did it though. Sure, they didn't do it outright, but he could see it. The way their smile faltered when they saw him, or when they microscopically flinch away when he got near them. Most people wouldn't notice it, but Dick did. He was observant.

One day, after a few weeks, Barry came to the home with a red haired woman who looked like his wife. They signed some papers and talked to one of the people. He technically wasn't supposed to be watching, but he was pretty good at hiding from people. He had practiced every day since Batman saved his family from a group of thugs back in Gotham.

Barry and his wife (Dick learned her name was Iris) left with him that day. He wasn't quite sure why they would want him, but he wasn't complaining. They were much nicer than the people at the home.

"Where's Wally?" Dick asked when they got home.

Barry smiled. "He doesn't live here. We're his Aunt and Uncle. He lives in Blue Valley"

"Can I see him sometime?"

"Sure thing, kiddo"

To be honest, Wally's Dad was scary. His Mom was nice enough, but even Wally seemed to avoid his father for some reason. This confused Dick weren't children supposed to love their parents? He knew he always loved his.

**A/N: So, I've noticed that there are several stories out there where Wally is adopted by by Bruce, but none where Barry adopts Dick. At least, none that I've read. **


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing

3 Years Later

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dick asked Wally as he scribbled down some notes he didn't really understand. Wally was staying with them for a week that summer. Barry and Iris had gone out for a few hours, leaving Dick and Wally home alone, which allowed them the chance to do Wally's experiment in the basement.

"Of course it's a good idea" Wally said. "Don't you want to be a superhero like Uncle Barry?"

Wally had just found out that his uncle was also his favorite superhero, and he was ecstatic. Dick had actually known for quite some time now, but Barry had given him a huge lecture on the importance of keeping it a secret and wouldn't even let him tell his cousin.

"Yeah, but this is dangerous. We could be superheroes without powers, like Batman. "

Wally made a face. "Batman? He's cool and everything, but he's scary. I wouldn't want to actually be him. I would much rather be like Flash."

"I'm serious Wally, you shouldn't do this! You could get hurt" Dick exclaimed. Wally rolled his eyes and poured a chemical into a different vial and set it down. "I'm serious, if you don't stop I'll call Barry! Also you aren't supposed to mix the sodium tetrafloride with the lithium monoxide until after you distill the carbon hexasulfide."

Wally looked at what he was doing, flipped back a few pages and checked the notes. "Nice catch. Thanks."

"Aren't you listening to what I'm saying?"

"I'm listening, but I don't particularly care." Wally shot back.

"Fine then. I'm going to call him." Dick said as he started to walk towards the stairs. "I'll do it, I swear!" Wally made a sound of indifference and kept working. He seemed to be almost done.

Dick ran up the stairs and picked up the phone. He punched in Barry's number and listened to it ring. Finally, the man on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Barry! I need your help!"

"Dick? What's wrong?"

"It's Wally! He's trying to do the experiment to give himself superspeed. I'm scared he'll hurt himself"

"I'll be right over there, okay Dick?"

Dick's adoptive father hung up the phone. Dick wasn't quite sure what to do after that. Fortunately, that decision was made for him when an explosion echoed up from the basement. He rushed down there to find the room filled with smoke to the point that he could barely see Wally lying on the floor, with his hair and clothes singed. Dick took a deep breath then plunged into the smoke, eyes watering and lungs throbbing. He grabbed Wally and managed to drag him to the stairs.

"Dick? Wally?" Barry was home. He must have run the whole way to get here that fast.

"Down here!" Dick called out.

Barry was down there in under a second. He grabbed Wally and helped Dick up the stairs. Barry set Wally down and dialed 911. He then turned to Dick and asked him what happened.

"He was downstairs and he found your notes on the experiment. He wanted to try it. I told him it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. I tried to talk out of it, but he was dead-set on being a superhero. That was when I called you."

Barry took this in and looked down. He dialed a number into the phone. "Rudy? Something happened to Wally."

Dick could hear Rudy through the phone when Barry said what happened. There was a string of words Dick was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to hear, along with a lot of accusations about "goddam spandex obsessed superheroes". Barry didn't say anything back. He just nodded his head and looked guilty.

After Barry hung up and the paramedics arrived to take care of Wally, Dick turned to the man he had idolized for three years, who had saved him from the darkness that had engulfed him since his parent's death.

"Will he be okay? Dick asked.

"I don't know, Dick. I hope so."


	3. Chapter 3

I own nothing

Dick sat in the waiting room at the hospital. It seemed like he had just sat down when Rudolph West stormed in looking like he was about to strangle someone.

"Allen!"

Barry stood up but said nothing.

"What the fuck did you do to my son? I leave him with you for a week and you land him in the goddamn hospital? What have done?" Rudolph's face had turned an interesting shade of purple. Dick made sure to stay as far away from him as possible. "And you!" Rudy rounded on Dick. So much for staying away. "You were with him! You're a little-" Rudolph was towering over him. He smelled... strange. Dick wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Leave my son out of this!" Barry interjected.

"Maybe if you didn't blow MY son to hell I would!"

"Well maybe if you treated him like your son he wouldn't pull this kind of crap!"

"Don't you dare try to blame this on me!"

"No, I will! He did this because he doesn't want to be like you, and I can't blame him! When was the last time you did anything with him?"

"Shut up! I'm not spending money on that sappy bullshit! I've got a family to feed!"

"You wouldn't have that problem if you could hold a job and go ten minutes without a beer now, wouldn't you!" Even Dick knew that Barry had gone to far with that one.

"How dare you!" Rudy lunged at him, but they were both grabbed by hospital security. Barry hung there like a limp puppet, while Rudy thrashed around like a dying fish.

A nurse popped her head through the door a little later to say that Wally was stable and that people could see him. Dick, Iris, and Mary were on their feet in the blink off an eye. The three of them were led down a hall and into his room. Wally was wide awake, chatting it up with the hospital technician. When he saw them he lit up.

"Mom! Iris! Dick!" he paused for a second. "Where are Dad and Barry?"

Mary and Iris shifted uncomfortably. Dick piped up. "They had a fight out in the waiting room."

Wally's face fell, but then he perked up again. "Well, at least you guys are here! Guess what Dick? They had to use a IV on me! And then I needed one of those oxygen mask thingies! Isn't that awesome?"

Dick wasn't exactly sure what part of that was supposed to be cool, but Wally was back to normal, so that was good. Mary, on the other hand, had gasped in terror when Wally had said this. Dick had a feeling Wally was in for a long night.

Wally got to go home that night with his parents. Dick, Barry, and Iris went home to. Iris gave Barry a stern lecture about his behavior at the hospital. Dick shrank back in his seat, trying to disappear. Barry and Iris didn't get mad at each other often, and neither had his mother and father, so he didn't really know what to do. He just looked out the window and watched lights fly past.

**A/N: Yes, I know that it is incredibly short. I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses, but I've been working on my other story more. Once I finish that updates on this one will be much longer and more frequent. **


End file.
